Sarah Polley’s second feature film Take This Waltz stars Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen as a couple whose marriage is content but not awesome. And then along comes a handsome neighbour to take them for a rickshaw ride. Look out Seth Rogen!

I’m a big Polley enthusiast (as an actress and writer), so very excited about her new offering. The three teaser-trailers are suggestive and quite lovely without giving a lot away, which is pretty much how I imagine Take This Waltz will be.

Polley made her feature film directorial (and writing) debut in 2007 with Away from Her for which she won an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Take This Waltz looks to share similar qualities with her first film – acute character studies, with a narrow focus on a marriage’s subtle shifts; but also looks a lot warmer, and slightly more personable.

I imagine the big name actors will help to make this a more popular film as well: Williams (Blue Valentine, My Week with Marilyn) seems to have fingers in all the pies right now, and I really admire her chameleon abilities, looking wildly different here again. And while it’s hard to imagine Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Paul) in this more serious role, I’m sure it will all pan out brilliantly. Plus there’s the very funny, very cool Sarah Silverman (TV’s The Sarah Silverman Show), who’s been earning acclaim for her turn as Rogen’s recovering-alcoholic sister.

“Take This Waltz is absolutely the work of a strong film artist with a perspective and a voice that should be heard… This is delicate, beautiful work, well-observed and powerful, and I walked out of the theater emotionally rocked by the movie,” reviewed HitFix.

While there’s no NZ release date yet, I’m crossing my fingers that all the buzz it earned coming out of the Toronto International Film Festival this year will help bring it to our shores soon.

Thoughts on Seth Rogen being serious? Is there such a thing as a rickshaw driver stereotype?

 When Margot, 28, meets Daniel, their chemistry is intense and immediate. But Margot suppresses her sudden attraction: she is happily married to Lou, a celebrated cookbook writer.When Margot learns that Daniel lives across the street from them, the certainty about her domestic life shatters. She and Daniel steal moments throughout the steaming Toronto summer, their eroticism heightened by their restraint. Margot finally gives in to desire and in doing so, discovers some unsettling truths about herself.

Swelteringly hot, bright and colorful like a bowl of fruit, Take This Waltz leads us, laughing, through the familiar but uncharted question of what long-term relationships do to love, sex, and our images of ourselves.

Written and directed by Sarah Polley and starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, and Sarah Silverman.

Take This Waltz is still on festival release, sadly, but keep checking back for a New Zealand release date.